Students for a Democratic Society - now forming in Santa Cruz!

I appreciate your intentions, Thomas, but there are a few questions that I hope you can answer:

1) What about the current, robust, student antiwar movement that is already here in Santa Cruz county?

2) What makes you, as a slightly-older adult, the right person to start up a county-wide 'umbrella' student antiwar organization?

3) Is the new SDS going to repeat the problems of the old SDS - namely, the constant sexism and focus on privileged white kids?

4) Is 'the new' SDS merely working off nostalgia from the 60's?

--

I hope I don't sound disrespectful, I've just seen a couple instances where folks want to 'bring back' the antiwar movement to Santa Cruz, withour recognizing what is already here.

I think there's a strong need for student antiwar organizations in the schools that don't currently have them (namely, Cabrillo and a lot of the high schools), and I hope people continue to work to fill those gaps.

was it just an accident that the 'new SDS' image is the same as ISO?

check:
http://www.studentsforademocraticsociety.org/images/sds_national.jpg

then:
http://www.internationalsocialist.org/images/fp_banner.gif
from:
http://www.internationalsocialist.org/index.html

--

I really don't want to be shuttin' folks down who want to organize, but just to encourage people to organize in a critical way that respects and works with people who may already be doing the work.

Don't let the naysayers (trolls?) discourage you. Cabrillo could really use a good antiwar group, as could other campuses. Thank you for stepping up to fill the void. Everyone can work together and I hope to see you around.

I would like to know more about this national organization and their history. If you get time, please share this knowledge with us.

PEACE AND JUSTICE NOW!

I too would like to hear replies from Thomas to the questions raised by ucsc student.

"If you agree that we need to end the war NOW..........., then you need to join SDS and help bring the noise."

That sounds pretty "top-down" as a way to introduce a group to the community.

If this is a bonafide grassroots student effort, cool, but I'll belive it when I see it.

On May 27, 2006 a large SDS contingent composed of Briarcliff High School, Northport High School, Bergen County, Pratt Institute, Pace University and Stonington High School SDS - as well as Movement for a Democratic Society NYC - joined War Resisters, CodePINK, the Granny Peace Brigade, the Green Party and Veterans For Peace in protesting the US Navy's "Fleet Week" celebration of militarism at a time (Memorial Day) when we should be searching for alternatives to State sponsored violence. Check out some hot photos of this NYC street action.
http://www.nextleftnotes.net/photo-gallery/2006_sds_m27/

I missed this one earlier:

"Ohlone Chapter"

So are you going to be recruiting the last remanants of the area's indigenous peoples?

SDS has been trying to expand in southern Cali also, totally ignoring the fact that there are already student peace groups down here.

Looks to me like well intentioned people are trying to build a national movement on an old name. But it's really not necissary.

In defense of SDS, the goal of SDS is not to take over other Leftist organizations (like many other groups), take the place of other organizations, or become the largest organization on the Left. The goal of SDS is to provide a democratic alternative to the majority of authoritarian organizations on the Left that don't place an emphasis on student power. SDS is not here to take the place of other anti-war organizations, it is a radical, democratic, multi-issue organization that places an emphasis on student power, while building coalitions with non-students (we're all "students" regardless of enrollment since we are all always learning and we need education to build a successful movement). Our emphasis is on coalition building, not to take away youth and students from other organizations, but to work with them...and those who agree with the position of SDS are welcome to come on board.

Many SDSers across the country have also shown their committment to creating a more militant movement. For example, take the SDSers in NYC who were arrested on March 19th in Times Square, or more recently the SDSers in Olympia and Tacoma, Washington who have committed mass civil disobedience at the ports in Olympia and confronted both the police and military head-on. They have proven that they are willing to "put their bodies upon the gears, upon the wheels" and they are willing to make this war machine stop...

There is a clear need for a radical/militant organization that is democratically organized and places an emphasis on youth/student power. SDS provides an alternative to many authoritarian organizations. There is also need for a multi-issue organization that understands that Iraq is not the only problem and that the state of the world is not some "unfortunate mistake", but that these things have happened and continue to happen for a reason, and that reason is imperialism.

Power to the California SDSers! Keep up the good work, just remember that there is always going to be opposition and that your goal should be to build a community and coalitions...build bridges, not borders/boundaries! Work with other organizations, but never compromise the democratic values that define SDS.

- Pat K.

Two Things...
First, "Oh my God! Red alert! An organization has a fist as their logo! They must be an ISO front group!" That exact logo has been used by every leftist organization since the '60s, probably even before then. Just because the ISO has the same logo doesn't make SDS a front group...it's funny that SDS was formed to counter the authoritarian/totalitarian front groups that dominate the left right now, many SDSers have not had good experiences with UFPJ, Answer, CAN, or WCW and are searching for an organization that functions democratically, rather than an organization that simply spews rhetoric about "democracy".

Second, I think that it is necessary since SDS is not just a "peace group", they are a multi-issue student group that has the potential to further radicalize/politicize college campuses, high schools, and communities. The name also makes sense: "Students for a Democratic Society" - there is a need for a student led movement in the US where students have the ability to determine the direction of their own movement, and we clearly do not live in a democratic society. As the contradictions open up even further and the US continues to murder, exploit, and oppress thousands in the name of "democracy" and the "democratic" party remains undemocratic (as it always has been), it is important that an organization is willing to fight for REAL democracy, for participatory democracy, for a society where people will play an active role in the decision making proccess. It's a broad organization - it unites various ideologies (anarchist, green, socialist, communist), while remaining radical and not committed to a particular ideology besides participatory democracy.

Also, to answer the question regarding sexism and white privilege, this has been addressed from the very beginning. There are many more non-white members of SDS now than the original SDS and many women have been taking an extremely active role in organizing and participating - yes, these problems exist in all organizations, and SDS is not perfect, but SDS has been making an active effort to address and deal with these problems. It's hard to deal with a million different issues at once, but we need to learn to. We have alot of work cut out for us (unfortunately, most of our time has been dedicated to planning for the national convention in Chicago) and we have grown much faster than we expected (over 120 chapters across the country and over 1,000 registered members in 5 months) and we continue to grow at an accelerated rate.

"Olympia SDS Starts With A Bang!"
http://shiftshapers.gnn.tv/blogs/15762/Olympia_SDS_Starts_With_A_Bang


"SDS Activists Arrested"
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2006nyc_sds_arrests


"SDS Statement of Solidarity With French Students"
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060326075918769


"SDS May Day In New London, Connecticut"
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060507220601196


"SDS Calls For Students To Join General Strike"
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060424153120328


"Kansas City: Local Students Join Campaign To End The War"
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=2006sds_kc


"Pace University SDS Free Speech Movement"
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060329075154739


"Reflections on the First SDS Northeast Conference"
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=200604242203540



Students ARE the ones leading the fight in SDS. Yes, there are older SDS veterans involved, and they have provided an incredible amount of support, but don't impose their will on students (I don't think students would listen to them in the first place if they tried to do so). The above links are just a few examples of STUDENTS organizing various actions and events. I can post more examples of articles that show students taking the lead in the fight for participatory democracy if you want, but this is happening, it is growing, and it will continue to grow.



http://www.myspace.com/nsds
http://www.myspace.com/kansascitysds
http://www.myspace.com/ucfsds
http://www.myspace.com/ccleft
http://www.myspace.com/sdsmadky

There are also links to chapter websites available at: http://www.newsds.org

Another example of what SDS is doing:

Someone commented that, while SDS is not trying to 'take over' other organizations, they are seeking to provide an alternative:

"There is a clear need for a radical/militant organization that is democratically organized and places an emphasis on youth/student power. SDS provides an alternative to many authoritarian organizations."

But here's the thing.. you assume that this type of organization is not already here in Santa Cruz. you assume that our student organizing is authoritarian and not multi-issue. I think that's a big mistake.

In Students Against War, we have had some similiar problems with more hiearchical networks like CAN and others, and we aren't the only organization like this. Maybe SDS needs to consider how it can have a relationship with other organizations (i.e. a network of solidarity and communication) without asking them to 'join SDS.'

We have a lot of experiencing doing exactly the type of work that 'the new' SDS is calling for - we've done direct action, we've done civil dis., we've worked on everything from labor solidarity, counter-recruitment, and demilitarization to immigrant rights actions. Hell, UCSC has been recruitment free for more than 20 months now. Isn't that saying something?

I think 'the new' SDS is offering something positive - a space for folks to get active in a seperate sphere from some of the networks that have been problemmatic in the past - but before you start up a big project, you *always* need to ask yourselves who is already doing good work, and build a structure that enables you to network with organizations without pushing them into your own organization. Get what I'm saying?

So you want to start a student activist network in Santa Cruz County? great. so how would this happen? the first step would be to get in touch with groups already doing the work - talk with the Brown Berets, talk with SAW, talk with the Harbor High School Students for Peace and Justice, talk with the Aptos Peace Club, talk with the Santa Cruz High Youth Alliance, talk with everyone. See where they're at, see what they need and what's lacking. Then look at the experiences of local network building in the past - look at the Youth Action Coalition (YAC) that was around right around the start of the war and connected up high school students to organize walk outs, rallies, etc. It didn't last long, but some good lessons were learned.

What I'm saying is this: building a true grassroots, accountable, nonhierarchical network is about more than just sending out a callout to every part of the country, regardless of what is already going on, saying, "hey, we're starting this great new network!" That's the same top-down model that was used to start the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN). You wanna be a different type of network? Then build it in a different way.

Then there's always the issue of being a truly multi-issued organization. That's something that can be done, but its difficult. You'll have to find a good structure to make it happen. In SAW, we have breakout groups - one that deals with counter-recruitment, another that does demilitarization (getting the UC out of the Nuclear Weapons business), and a third that deals with education of the war(s) in general. This model has worked well, because everyone has their focus, but comes together for big actions. Obviously, SDS won't be able to (and shouldn't) cover every issue in terms of action, so you should pick some specific (maybe yearly or 2-yr campaigns), but that doesn't mean you can't network with, learn about, and act in solidarity with other organizations and movements.

And finally.. someone said, "there is a need for a student led movement in the US where students have the ability to determine the direction of their own movement," which is definitely true. How can we use this sentence to think about the way that this SC County SDS callout was made, then? How can we use this sentence to think about some of 'the new' SDS' individuals that have been up front - namely Thomas Good, who has been listed on all but 2 of SDS' press releases, and made the 'official' call out for the Northeastern Conference, but is a 47 yr. old member of the IWW and WRL? This isn't meant to disrespect Thomas Good or Thomas Leavitt, but why is it that we have old folks spearheading what is supposed to be a movement of youth??

How much is 'the new' SDS about the nostalgia of the 60's? How much emphasis is being placed on *the organization* rather than the organizing? I really hope you all are reading up on your history for why the old SDS fell apart and some of the major problems it had (part of the women's movement started 'cus SDS was so sexist) - namely ego.

I look forward to working with you all in the future.

Diverse "multi-issue" networks already exist. A student movement already exist. There is no need to create one.

Oftentimes these calls to action are simply a recognition of what is already present. Any students in Santa Cruz (and anywhere else for that matter) who are concerned with the state of the planet and want to make some positive change through radical democratic action should first ask themselves what organizations/networks/people are already doing this here?

It can be really empowering to build networks, but this SDS thing has some problems. They've been pushing their thing down here in Santa Barbara which is cool, it's nice to see people getting energized to build a movement for participatory democracy, but it already exists.

The only other thing I have to add is that this focus on networking and creating a mass umbrella for "the movement" is off base. Our strength is our multiplicity, our diversity, our militant particularism, and the fact that we don't even need to officially coordinate with one another. Think about how amazing it is that we can all oppose the war, build alternative institutions, combat racism, demonstrate against corporate globalization, dissolve homophobia, or whatever else, and we don't even have to share the same name, attend this or that national conference, or be in contact with one another!

SDS sounds like a cool organization, I identify with a lot of the things they talk about, but I'm not quitting my campus antiwar group or the student labor solidarity group or the hurricane katrina group that I work with to join SDS, supposedly so we can work on the very same things?

But I still look forward to working with SDS people in the future.

appreciate your intentions, Thomas, but there are a few questions that I hope you can answer:

1) What about the current, robust, student antiwar movement that is already here in Santa Cruz county?

TL: Not to be insulting, but "robust" by what definition? Success at organizing students at UCSC is great, but I don't see strong anti-war campus organizations elsewhere in the county... and I certainly don't see the overall anti-war movement in Santa Cruz County as "robust" in any sense of the word. Look through this web site? How many anti-war actions do you see reported in the last few months? I see one on May 12th in Capitola at the recruiters station, with 50-60 people, and the ejection of the military recruiters on April 11th at UCSC with 150 students. Is two relatively small events in the last couple of months doesn't strike me as "robust". Apparently, others have similar feelings about the anti-war "movement" here in Santa Cruz.

TL: My particular vision for SDS in this county, which is just my own, and has little bearing on how things will ultimately turn out, is to take the movement to the streets across the county, on an ongoing and consistent basis, involving a wide swath of participants from the student population and otherwise, engaging in direct action and civil disobedience and loud and vocal protest.

2) What makes you, as a slightly-older adult, the right person to start up a county-wide 'umbrella' student antiwar organization?

TL: I'm a student. Most of the "students" I know are "slightly older adults". Do you have an ageist idea of what a "student" is? Or a classist one that says part-time intermittent adult students at junior colleges are somehow second class students or not really legitimate "students" in comparison to full time students attending a (relatively expensive) four year public university straight out of college? I'm being hyperbolic here, but you get my point, I hope.

TL: ... I don't claim to be the "right" person. Nor do I have any intention of somehow single handedly "starting" this SDS chapter / group of chapters. I view myself as, at best, a "catalyst" for action... either people take the ball and run with it, or not. At best, I'm not the most charismatic or organized individual, so I sincerely hope that several folks who are better than me at the organization building thing step up to the plate and get involved.

3) Is the new SDS going to repeat the problems of the old SDS - namely, the constant sexism and focus on privileged white kids?

TL: I sincerely hope not, given that we've got fourty years worth of experience and history to learn from... I see no reason why a new SDS in ths county, formed by folks from this county, is any more (or less) likely to be affected by this problem than other organizations... most of my political mentors have been women, and continue to be, and I don't feel any of my female activist peers would consider me to be a chauvanist pig. At a guess, the problems you mention with sexism were more a product of the society around it, than the organization itself - I saw part of a video on the Weathermen, and it seemed to me that there were quite a number of powerful and articulate women involved in SDS.

4) Is 'the new' SDS merely working off nostalgia from the 60's?

TL: Define "merely". Certainly, it doesn't hurt, when building an organization from the ground up, to have a very strong element of nostalgia working for you. How many more people read this posting because I put the name in the title?

--

I hope I don't sound disrespectful, I've just seen a couple instances where folks want to 'bring back' the antiwar movement to Santa Cruz, withour recognizing what is already here.

TL: I acknowledge that a LOT of people have done a LOT more than me, a lot more consistently, and that Santa Cruz has a great deal of sympathy for the anti-war movement. At the same time, I don't think anyone should feel comfortable with where the movement is, here in Santa Cruz County, or elsewhere.

I think there's a strong need for student antiwar organizations in the schools that don't currently have them (namely, Cabrillo and a lot of the high schools), and I hope people continue to work to fill those gaps.

The ISO has no monopoly on that image, as evidenced by the cover of Power In The Darkness, an album put out in 1976 by Tom Robinson Band (TRB). See http://www.tomrobinson.com/records/albums/pitd.htm - an album I bought used in a record store as a teenager in the late 1980's... largely because of that image (and the fact that the album mentioned that the lead singer, Tom Robinson, was the world's first internationally recorded and openly gay artist).

I'm well aware of the issue of cultural appropriation, which is what I presume you're referring to. Note that I specifically stated that this was a "preliminary" choice, precisely because I wanted feedback on it.

I chose the name as a way of picking something Santa Cruz specific, that honored our past and contrasted with the negative aspects of it... given that Cabrillo is named in honor of a conquistador who made his fortune by enslaving Native Americans and was part and parcel of an imperialist expansion that lead to the genocide of most of California and Santa Cruz's indigenous people, it seemed, in the absence of being able to recall a dead Santa Cruz radical of significant stature, a reasonable way of making a contrasting statement of values.

But I'd be very happy to change the name to Tom Scribner Chapter, now that I've had a chance to think of it.

Thanks for being so open about your intentions and answering some of my questions, Thomas.

I think your coming from a very positive place. You're probably right to call me out for using the term 'robust,' because obviously there's a lot of work that still needs to get done in Santa Cruz County as far as building an antiwar movement is concerned. Hopefully you, and others, can help in that regard. But keep in mind that there is always a look of work happening behind the scenes that isn't so public - such as the weekly meetings and events put on by groups like the Brown Berets and Students Against War.

There's just a couple things I wanted to respond to (and no, I'm not stalking this post, I'm just up late, procrastinating from doing papers):

1) You mention that others have similiar feelings about the lack of antiwar movement in Santa Cruz County, and link an article by pochovilla. I read the article back then and I was glad he started the discussion. From my perspective, the article is more of a critique of general (non-student) antiwar organizing in the city of Santa Cruz - namely from the likes of the Peace Coalition, etc. In fact, he names the targets of his letter at the top.

If you could work to energize and mobilize within that particular community, I think it would be wonderful. Since you're a student at Cabrillo, that might also be a good place to start. I'm a strong believer that we always need to start in a specific community/location rather than a broader 'lets start everywhere' attempt.

2) When I think of the word 'student,' you're right that I generally think about full-time students of a younger generation - either in high school, just out of high school, or have gone back to grad school full-time. Depending on how much full-time students have to work to pay their bills, they are more likely to be rooted in their school's community and have the time to organize than part-time students. Part of the reason why organizing at Cabrillo has been so tough over the years is that its a commuter school - people come and go, so gettin' folks to stick around for an event or action is difficult.

That said, I think i'll shut up about this whole issue. I wish you the best of luck, Thomas, and I look foward to working with you in the future.

a) I've made no assumptions about the existing organizations

b) I'm just one person... how folks read into this that they should quit their existing organizations in order to join SDS is beyond me... and how simply spreading the word that the organization exists, and asking people to join, is "top down" is beyond me... anything that happens (if anything happens at all, and there is real interest) is going to be the result of the choices made by the folks who choose to become involved... certainly no one has tried to recruit me to join an anti-war organization to date...

c) again - "young people" have no monopoly on being students ... according to this site, which quotes sources for their information, 46% of community college students are at least 25 years old, and the average age of community college students is 29... http://www.ccsse.org/quiz.cfm

I mean, seriously, at 34 years of age, I'm "old" and confronting ageism? Give me a break.

d) I've dealt with enough organizational bullshit inside the Green Party to last me a lifetime... no offense to the folks working at a national level, but all I'm really interested in is getting a bunch of folks together at a local level to address the most burning issues of our time, as outlined in the original posting... i don't intend to attend the national convention, i don't intend to spend any time or energy on national organizational issues, and i'll be perfectly happy if the relationship between the national and local chapter consists of nothing more than us sending them $5, and them sending us buttons and membership cards

e) I'd love to hear from the folks who've already been organizing, the list the poster mentions is a great start for me to start contacting folks - again, I have no interest in having people "abandon" their current organizations to join SDS, and would be perfectly happy to work "in coalition" with other folks... what matters to me is the end result, not building the biggest and baddest anti-war org in the county... there's no ego trip here...

I appreciate the response. I apologize if I sound a bit testy in any of my responses. I really need to get to bed.

In all sincerity, here's how it went down: I saw part of a documentary on the Weathermen. It highlighted to me how painfully different things were then compared to now, in temrs of the level of engagement and success and energy the anti-war movement had, and brought up all the frustrations I've felt about the anti-war movement as a whole, locally and nationally (in short, in my view, there is no "movement"). My friend brought up the SDS web site, and I was like, holy shit, SDS has re-incarnated itself, that is way cool. Maybe it is a sign that people are ready to take things to the next level.

I went to the web site, signed up, looked for a local chapter, couldn't find one, and figured, what the hell, I'll start one locally, and see how much interest there is, wrote up the announcement, popped it off to a few lists and Indymedia, and went to bed. Like I said elsewhere, I'm not a particularly charismatic or skilled organizer, any success in those areas is more a matter of simple persistence and a fair amount of experience gained by repeatedly running into walls... the way *I*, personally, know how to start something and make something happen, is to put an idea in front of as many people as I possibly can, and see if there is interest. I've done this more than a dozen times before, with more or less success. I didn't mean to step on anyone's toes or offend anyone, and I acknowledge that it may not be the most *effective* way of doing this... but it is the way *I* know how to start something.

... and I figure it is better to do something, than nothing. Fail forward fast, as folks in the Silicon Valley startup culture say. :)

Again, I apologize if I sounded aggravated or was impolite at any point. I'm going to bed now. :)

SDS Cabrillo College

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What's New At Next Left Notes:
------------------------------

SDS New York To Protest At US Merchant Marine Academy

New York, NY - June 16, 2006
George W. Bush is speaking at the 2006 commencement at the United States
Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, NY on the morning of June 19. Join
Students for a Democratic Society and friends in confronting Bush's criminal
acts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The recent revelations of atrocities in Haditha
and Ishaqi and elsewhere clearly reveal the barbarity of the US Government's
actions. In an effort to end the US war crimes, stop the use of torture and
eliminate "pre-emptive" invasions, SDS New York City is calling for a
nonviolent protest at the Vickery (Main) Gate of the USMMA at 10:00 AM on
Monday, June 19, 2006.

http://www.nextleftnotes.net/current/sds_usmma.html

We are continuing to pick up endorsements, includes a
great flier designed by Daniel Garrick of Northport SDS

------------------------------

SDS Olympia: Born In The Struggle At The Port Of Olympia

Olympia, WA - Memorial Day, 2006
Arrested in the Port of Olympia protests SDS Olympia member Brendan Dunn offers
a comprehensive report back on the efforts to prevent the militarization of his
city...

http://www.nextleftnotes.net/current/dunn_olympia.html

Brendan's firsthand account, includes photos and the Democracy Now
interview (specially edited for NLN)

------------------------------

Protest In Olympia - Photographic Essay by Sebastian Stratton-Clarke

Olympia, WA - Memorial Day, 2006
An incredible protest filmed by photographer Sebastian Stratton-Clarke.
Sebi's photos really captured the Moment.

http://www.nextleftnotes.net/photo-gallery/2006_sds_olympia/

This is a truly great collection of photos from the Olympia
protests...

-----------------------------

SDS Conventions, Past And Future by Paul Buhle

Providence, RI - June 15, 2006
Author, lecturer and SDS stalwart Paul Buhle offers his views on why Students
for a Democratic Society conventions are unique.

http://www.nextleftnotes.net/current/buhle_convention.html

PMB gives his take on SDS conventions - from the perspective of
someone who regards SDS as a beloved community and who has been
waiting a decade or three for the "next meeting of SDS"...

------------------------------


--

Thomas Good, Organizer
SDS New York City
NYC War Resisters League
IWW x358303 / IU 560

http://www.studentsforademocraticsociety.org
http://www.myspace.com/loveandstruggle